Wrench.



WRENCH.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 19. 1915.

Ll 0,73?. Patented Nov. 16, 1915.

Q www /Jwq l,

COLUMBIA PLANODRAPH C0..wAsHINGTON, D. c.

ran arianne rarnnr ernten.

JAMES W. IVICCURLEY, 0F CINCINNATI, OHIO, A-SSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF 'IO LOUIS J. STOCKUM, OF CINCINNAIL'OHIO.

WRENCH.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 16, i915.

Application filed February 19, 1915. Serial No. 9,401.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, JAMES W. MCCURLEY, a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of Cincinnati, in the county of Hamilton and State of Ohio, have invented a certain new and useful Improve* ment in lvrenches, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in wrenches adapted for use in connection with nuts, taps, piping, and the like and especially when varioussizes of those devices are to be readily and quickly manipulated, and the object of the invention herein is to provide a handled body-portion that has a fore serrated extension or jaw with a pair of removable side plates extending or projecting upwardly from said body-portion and having between their upvvardly-extended portions a pivotally-mounted rocker-bar whose smooth fore-end forms a companion jaw-member for the said serrated j aw-member and whose slopingrear end is engaged by a sloping toothed sliding plate or wedge that is automatically advanced by and held under the control of a spiral spring, the latter being housed within the handle to the rear of said side-plates, whereby the pivotal jaw-member can be readily set and held in position under said spring control in contact with the respective nuts or the like that are to be turned in either direction and not likely to slip away from the clamping-effect of the jaws but easily released from the jaws without sticking, when required.

A very material object of the invention herein., and especially in connection with the said toothed, spring-controlled sliding plate or wedge is that the latter forms a positive back-stop which is adapted to hold the upper pivotal-jaw from slipping and at the point where set, to suit various sizes of nuts or the like that are to be turned.

The details of the invention herein are quite simple, easily understood and clearly pointed out in the following description of the aecompanyingdrawings, in which,-

Figure l is a longitudinal side-elevation of my invention as it appears in use on a nut that is clamped or held iirmly in adjusting place between the jaw-members at the fore end of the wrench; Fig. 2, a longitudinal elevation of the wrench, showing it as it appears in its normal position when out of use, but with the near one of the sideplate's removed, with the transverse pivotbolt in section, with the plate `fasteningrivets in section, and with the upper edge of the handle broken and in section lengthwise to clearly show the spring-control within said handle for the plunger-stem portion of the toothed wedge; Fig. 8, a vertical crosssection taken on the dotted-line a., a, ot' Fig. 2 looking forwardly along the wrench; and Fig. Il, a plan view taken along the upper edge of the wrench in the position seen in Fig. l but omitting the nut that is shown between the jaws in said Fig. l.

l indicates a middle or main portion of the longitudinal bar that has an integral. fore jaw-extension 2 and an integral rear handleextension 3, the lower edge or' all three of these parts being en the saine plane, but the upper edge of the said handle-eXtension is elevated somewhat above the upper edge of the said main-portion l and is made hollow or bored throughout its length to form a. chamber 4- whose rear end is fitted with a tightly-driven plug 5 and is adapted to accommodate the rear plunger-stem 6"L of 'a sliding wedge or clamp-member G whose lower edge reciprocates along the upper edge of said main-portion l that lies in the same plane as the bottom of chamber 4, as seen in Fig. 2. The upper face of the jaweXtension 2 slopes downwardly and is toothed or serrated as shown at .7, and the fore end of the wedge or clamp-member 6 is also made sloping and toothed or serrated as shown at S.

Within the chamber 4 I insert a spiral spring 9, as seen in Fig. 2, said spring acting eXpansively between the rear end of the plunger-stein Ga and the rear-plug 5, the latter forming a back-stop for the spring and enabling the ready boring of the chamber 4C in the manufacture of the device. In order to more readily adjust the tension of the spring 9 I prefer to make it in two coils whose adjacent ends are adapted to interwind to suit the stiffness or tension desired. In assembling the device the spring 9 is inserted from the fore end of the chamber 4, and the plug 5 is driven tightly into place in the rear end of said chamber. The wedge or clamp-member 6 together withn its integral stem 6a is removably-mounted in place for use and automatically projected forward under the tension of said spring 9 S0 that the toothed fore edge ..8 shall successively engage t ie rear, pointed end or sharp tail 10 of anupper or auxiliary jaw-member 11, the latter having at its fore end an upwardly-sloping, smooth-faced, aw proper 12 that is adapted to co-act with the lower or main jaw-member 2 whose serrated surface 7 is adapted to firmly grip the nut or other object that is to be turned, the smooth surface of the upper pivotal jaw 12 being adapted to readily release said nut or other object when desired and not stick at that particular releasing moment when the clamping-eect of the jaws should be easily removed from said nut so as to make ready for the next clamping of the nut in continuing the turning thereof for use or the reverse.

rllhe upper jaw-member is freely and pivotally mounted on a transverse bolt 13 betweena pair of side-plates 14 and 15, the said side-plates being firmly secured in place on the body-portion 1 of the wrench by means of countersunk rivets 16, and a removable nut 17 is used on the pivot-bolt 13 so that the latter can be removed when desired in placing and displacing said upper jawemember from between the side-plates 1/1 and 15. The rear ends of the side-plates 14.1. and 15 are made shallower than their fore portions, as shown at 18 in Fig. 1 and bear against shoulders-18al at the fore end per edges on the same plane as the upper Y edge' of said handle whereby the operator Vcan more readily take hold of the upper portion of the wedge' between his thumb and fore-finger although the upper face ofV said wedge is somewhat serrated or knurled, as at 19, for the pressure of the thumb thereon in manipulating said wedge backwardly from toothed-engagement with the pointed rear end 10 of the upper awmem ber. In operating the wrench, the wedge 6 is drawn rearwardly against the pressure of spring 9 so that the tooth 10 of the upper jaw-member may be broughtl into engagement with the proper tooth of'seriesy `8 to suit the space required between the jawfaces 7 and 12 to'accommodate the nut, tap or other object that is to be turned or affected by the use of the wrench, during which time the spring 9 exerts its tension on the wedge 6 and holds it firmly against said tooth 10 so that the upper j aw-member cannot slip accidentally from the nut to be turned. The upper aw -member can be readily released from the nut by drawing the wedge backwardly by means of the thumb on the knurled-surface 19 so that it can be pivoted on the bolt 13 between the side-plates 14 and 15 that are mounted just free from contact with its opposite sides and not interfering with its regular movements. The said side-plates have no clamping effect on said upper jaw-member that would retard it in any way in use.

I claim A wrench comprising a flat, plane or smooth main-member having a fore or main jaw-extension that has a serrated or toothed contacting-face and a rear plane or smooth rear handle-extension that has in its upper edge a longitudinal chamber, a pair of independent Hat plates secured to the opposite sides of the main-member intermediate the said fore jaw-extension and the rear handleextension and projecting upwardly beyond its upper edge, an upper plane auxiliary jaw-member pivotally-supported between the upper extensions of said plates and having a sharp tail-end, a flat clamp-plate or wedge having a toothed sloping fore-edge and a rear smooth integral plunger-stem that is adapted to slidingly-engage the longitudinal smooth bore or chamber within the upper edge of the handle, and a longitudinal spiral spring inserted within said chamber and adapted to act expansively on the rear smooth plunger-stem of the toothed clampmemher or wedge so that the teeth of the latter shall automatically engage the said sharp tail-end of the pivotal jaw-member when in use on a nut or the like and the said clamp-member or wedge adapted for ready release from tight engagement with the pivetal jaw-member bv a rear movement against the tension of the spring.

. J AMES W. MGCURLEY. Witnesses:

JOHN ELIAS JONES, WILLIAM SCHERGHARDT.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the "Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C. 

